City of Union’s budget looks solid for 2018-19 fiscal year

UNION — The City of Union’s budget will be down in 2018-19, but there’s no need to worry: the city is financially solid.

The Union City Council adopted a 2018-19 general fund budget of $4.65 million Monday night, which is down about 12 percent for the current 2017-18 budget.

Although it is less, the budget will allow the city to retain all of its programs and staff, said City Administrator Doug Wiggins. The reason is that during the past year the city spent $750,000 on infrastructure work. A seven-block portion of Fir Street running east to the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show Grounds was paved, and half a dozen blocks of water lines on Fourth Street were upgraded. The funding for the Fir Street repaving project and the water line upgrade work came from the city’s reserve fund.

The reserve fund was drawn to $2 million, a level Wiggins said he feels comfortable with.

Mayor Leonard Flint agreed that the city is on solid ground financially.

“We are in good shape. We have made reallocations that are helping us build for the future,” Flint said.

The budget adopted by the council is the one the city’s budget committee recommended in April.